Reheating-furnace for steel ingots.



I No. 662.6"). Patented Nov. 27, 1900.

J. 0. E. rnorz.

REHEATING FURNACE FOB STEEL INGOTS.

(Application filed Jan. 20, 1900.] (No Modal.) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

l I I No. 662,6). Patented Nov. 27, 1900.

J. n. E. TBOTZ.

REHEATING FURNACE FOB STEEL INGOTS.

(Application filed Jan. 20, 1900.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheat 2.

:1 I I. xw

f A g wrtwwas '5 EE 5 InXZEfl-E. 1:11-12 Patented Nov. 27,1900.

J. 0. E. TROTZ.

REHEATING FURNACE FOR STEEL INGOTS.

(Application filed Jan. 20, 1900.;

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

Infant :11: V

15 Attf I'LT'LEEEEE; 77/ 45, /V 1/, W 62 6% JOHAN OTTO EMANUEL TROTZ, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

REHEATlNG-FURNACE FOR STEEL INGOTS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 662,610, dated November 27, 1900.

Application filed January 20, 1900. Serial No. 2,107. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it rnctzj concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHAN OTTO EMANUEL TROTZ, of the city and county of Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reheating-Furnaces for Steel Ingots or Blooms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section, partly in elevation, of so much of a reheating-furnace for steel ingots or blooms as is necessary to illustrate my improvements thereon, said section being taken at the point indicated byline a in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the upper. part of the furnace, taken at the point indicated by line b b in Fig. 3 and showing a plan of portions of the apparatus including my said improvements. through the apparatus, taken at the point indicated by line a in Fig. 5. Fig. 3 is a central vertical longitudinal section through the central portion and ends of one of the hollow shafts K, showing the central and end connections with the water supply and discharge pipes. Fig. etis an enlarged view of that portion of the illustration shown in Fig. 1 to which my invention relates. Fig. 5 is also an enlarged View of that portion of the illustration shown in Fig. 2 to which said invention relates. Fig. 6 represents a skeleton side view upon the same scale as the last two figures of the revolving ingot or bloom carriers for revolving the ingots or blooms and transferring them from one position to another, as will be hereinafter more fully described; and Fig. 7 is a skeleton side view of some of the gears for driving the shafts upon which the ingot-carriers are mounted.

The common way of manipulating the ingots or blooms in the process of reheating has been to push them forward laterally lengthwise of the furnace from a transfer car or truck by means of a hydraulic plunger or other suitable means into the reheating-furnace, and as the series of ingots or blooms lying side by side are intermittently fed forward over the usual longitudinal supporting-tracks and are deposited into the pit or welding- Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section room of the furnace they are turned over one after another by hand, the attendants performing said operation by inserting suitable tongs or bars through doors in the side of the furnace provided for the purpose.-

This method is objectionable for various reasons, the principal one of which is that considerable heat is Wasted by opening the doors to turn over the ingots or blooms, as aforesaid, and being irregularly rotated are heated unevenly. Several attendants are also required to thus manipulate the ingots or blooms by hand, and said attendants are not only subjected to severe labor under intense heat, but are also liable to injury.

To obviate the foregoing objections is the main purpose of my invention, which consists in providing the usual reheating-furnace with a series of vertical rotary ingot or bloom carriers arranged in the pit or welding-chamber of the furnace about in a longitudinal line with the tracks over which the ingots are fed forward and adapted to receive the ingots thereon at the rear end of the series as they areintermittently pushed forward from the track and then automatically turned a quarter of a revolution at a time as they are gradually and intermittently carried forward and finally deposited one after another in front of the door preparatory to withdrawing them in their heated state from the furnace for further treatment, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to better understand the nature and purpose thereof, I will now proceed to describe it more in detail.

Referring to the drawings, A represents part of a reheating-furnace for ingots or blooms the central portion of which is broken away in order to show the parts to which my invention relates upon as large a scale as possible.

B is a truck arranged to travel transversely to the furnace upon suitable tracks B B and upon which is mounted a supplementary truck 0, whose wheels are arranged transversely to those of the main truck B. Said supplementary truck 0 is provided with horizontal longitudinal tracks 0 C, upon which are transversely laid side by side the ingots or blooms D to be reheated. Said tracks 0 0 are arranged upon a level-with the usual longitudinal tracks (3 C extending from the outer left-hand end of the furnace to the pit or welding-chamber E thereof.

The ingots or blooms D are pushed forward laterally by means of a suitable plunger F, which may in practice be operated by steam, hydraulic, or any other suitable power. Said pushing apparatus not constituting a part of my invention, only the front end thereof is shown in the drawings.

The reheating-furnace is provided with the usual fire-box G and grate G in front, divided from the welding-chamber by the crosswall H. It 'is also provided with the usual fresh-air inlets 1, opening into the ash-pit under grate G.

The general construction and arrangement of the furnace are similar to those of others of this class, with the exception of the application of myimproved apparatus located in the welding-chamber for revolving the ingots or blooms in the reheating process automatically instead of by hand, and it will therefore be unnecessary to enter into a detailed description of said old parts of the furnace.

My said improved apparatus consists of a series of rotary carriers J, made in the form of flat, square-shaped disks or wheels having flat sides J and arranged vertically and longitudinally, and of the means employed for supporting and turning the same automatically, the ingots or blooms being laid transversely thereon, and intermittently rotated laterally one-fourth of a revolution at a time, and thus intermittently rolled forward to the point of removal from the furnace by hand, as will be hereinafter more fully explained. The disks or wheels J are in practice arranged about in line longitudinally with the longitudinaltracksC O Theyareeach mounted and secured upon separate transverse horizontal shafts K. In this instance four of said disks or wheels are shown in each line; but I do not limit myself to this number. They are arranged so that two of those in each line will come at one side of the other two, so as to permit each pair to overlap the other pair, and thereby admit of economizing in space, also to form a transverse V-shaped rest at the top be tween one disk or wheel and the next one to it to receive the ingots or blooms, as is shown in may also, if desired, be made hollow and connected with the openings in each shaft K, water being supplied through suitable supply-pipes L and discharged through the wastepipes M at the center, the hollow shafts K being arranged to turn to rotate the disks or eeaelo wheels J and also serving aswater'pipes, as aforesaid. Their connections with the water-supply pipes L L and discharge-pipe M are made, as is shown in Fig. 3, with the central connection K and end connections K K with stuffing-boxes to make the joints water-tight and also allow the shaft to turn therein. The water discharges from shaft K through an opening K into the chamber K of the connection K and thence into and through the discharge-pipe M.

Driving power may be imparted by a belt connected with suitable driving mechanism and passing over a pulleyN on a short shaft 0, fitted to turn in suitable stationary bearings O O. The driving power is transmitted from said shaft 0 to turn the aforesaid transverse horizontal shafts K by means of a spurgear P on shaft 0, which engages with a spurgear Q on one of the shafts K, and thence through the chain of gears R, S, and T on the other three shafts upon which the ingot or bloom carriers J are mounted and the intermediate gears R, S, and T on stationary studs V, as is shown in the drawings. The disks or wheels constituting said carriers J are preferably clipped at the corners, as shown at J, to reduce their radial diameters across from corner to corner, so as to economize in space, being cut off just sufficient to permit said disks or wheels to turn without striking the shafts K when the latter are placed at the distances apart shown in the drawings. The first shaft K next to where the ingots or blooms are discharged from the longitudinal tracks 0 0 into the welding-furnace E is arranged at the proper place to bring the first two disks or wheels mounted thereon in the right position to catch the ingot or bloom thereon when it slides down the incline C of tracks 0 0 as is shown in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings. At this point in the operation of treating the ingots or blooms the disks or wheels occupy diagonal positions in relation to each other that is, their opposite corners are in line vertically and horizontally when viewed from the side, as is also shown in Figs. 1 and 4, and said disks or wheels are stationary and remain at rest in said positions until the ingot or bloom last pushed forward from tracks 0 C has arrived against the inclined edge of the disks or wheels, when they are set slowly in motion, and as they rotate from the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 4. to those shown in Fig. 6 the ingots or blooms are carried forward with them, being partially turned in the operation. As they continue to slowly rotate they are each independently turned and moved forward from one set of disks or wheels to the next preceding ones, the one, D, at the front end being deposited on the bottom of" the furnace-pit or welding-chamber ready to be Withdrawn by hand lengthwise through the door U in the side of the furnace, as usual. By thus automatically turning over the ingots or blooms as they are fed forward through the welding-chamber of the furnace it is apparent that said operation may be performed very uniformly, all of said ingots or blooms being intermitten tly moved together, and therefore they are all uniformly heated. Consequently a superior product is obtained at less cost than by the old method of manipulating the ingots or blooms by hand in the usual Way. Not only is the expense lessened by dispensing with a numberof attendants now necessary, but also those that are required to attend the furnace are subjected to less laborious work and are less liable to injury, as before stated, than by the old method.

Having now described my invention, what I claim therein as new,'and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- 1. In a reheating furnace for ingots or blooms, having the usual working chamber just back of the firebox, the combination bf carriers located in said working chamber and consisting of a series of overlapping disks, having fiat sides, and arranged vertically and in series, each about in line longitudinally with the tracks over which the ingots or blooms are fed forward through the furnace; said tracks, the same extending back longitudinally through the apparatus from the inner end of the working chamber; the transverse shafts upon which said carriers are mounted, and means for supporting and turning said shafts, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a reheating furnace for ingots or blooms having the usual working chamber just back of the fire-box, the combination of rotary, hollow carriers located in said working chamber and consisting of a series of over:

transverse shafts upon which said carriers are mounted, having means for maintaining a stream of water or other cooling medium through the same and said carriers, and means for supporting and turning said shafts, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. In a reheating-furnace for ingots or blooms, having the usual working chamber back of the fire-box, the combination of the tracks, for supporting the ingots or blooms in place, the same extending back through the apparatus from the inner end of the working chamber, and the plunger for pushing said ingots or blooms through the furnace with rotary carriers located in the working chamber and consisting of a series of overlapping disks, having fiat sides, and arranged vertically and in series, each about in line longitudinally with the tracks over which the ingots or blooms are fed forward through the furnace; the transverse shafts upon which said ingots or blooms are mounted, and means for supporting and turning said shafts, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHAN OTTO EMANUEL TROTZ.

Witnesses:

W. B. NoURsE, ARTHUR A. GILBERT. 

